EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid will be back in the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup Wednesday, a little more than a week since injuring his left ankle.
The Oilers center, who was originally expected to miss 2-3 weeks, participated in the morning skate on a line with Zach Hyman and Jeff Skinner ahead of their game against the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place (8:30 p.m. ET: TVAS, SN, SCRIPPS).
“Yeah, I feel good,” the Edmonton captain said. “Looking forward to going and getting back in there.”
McDavid was injured 37 seconds into a 6-1 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 28, tripping on the stick of Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski and falling feet first into the boards. The Oilers announced Nov. 30 that McDavid was expected to be out 2-3 weeks.
“I can only tell you how it feels, it feels really good,” McDavid said. “I’m not part of the media team doing the media releases. I was pretty lucky. It was not very good initially, [but] things have turned the corner really, really quickly and it feels good.”
McDavid missed three games because of the injury. He was initially worried it could be longer.
“I certainly did, I felt not very good about it,” McDavid said. “Ultimately, sometimes it can feel bad and swell up and stuff, but it can clear up pretty quick.
“It’s something that I had a little bit before and maybe it’s a tweak of an old injury or something, I don’t know. It feels good, though.”
Edmonton (6-6-1) went 2-1-0 without McDavid.
After playing Vegas on Wednesday, the Oilers play at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday before returning home next week for games against the New York Islanders (Nov. 12) and Nashville Predators (Nov. 14).
“They are two games that I certainly wanted to be a part of, but not the deciding factor for sure,” McDavid said. “You would rather miss these ones in November than later in the year, but I’m going to get to play and looking forward to two great teams playing tonight.
“Vegas, [we’re] not looking ahead. They’re a great team, they have great D-men, strong and it’s always a good challenge for us.”
McDavid has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games. He is eight points away from reaching 1,000 with 992 points (338 goals, 654 assists) in 655 games.
“It’s nice to have him back,” Jeff Skinner said. “Obviously, he’s the best player in the world, it’s nice to have him back. ... It’s big anytime he’s in the lineup. We’re trying to get on the right track here and string some wins together. It will be nice having him back and he’s going to be a big part of it.”
Skinner has six points (three goals, three assists) in 13 games with Edmonton. He signed a one-year, $3 million contract July 2 after having the last three seasons of an eight-year, $72 million contract ($9 million average annual value) bought out by the Buffalos Sabres on June 30.
Skinner has played sporadically on a line with McDavid this season but has not started alongside the Oilers captain since a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 13.
“The more you play with him, the more you’re around him and practice with him, the more you can anticipate a little bit more,” Skinner said. “You have to anticipate because he’s always a step or two ahead of everybody, and as a linemate that opens up space for you and you have to try and take advantage of that.”
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch is happy to have McDavid back against the Golden Knights (8-3-1), who are second in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of Edmonton.
“It’s very important to get Connor back in our lineup,” Knoblauch said. “We’re playing one of the best teams right now, they’re playing extremely well, scoring a lot of goals, and to get your No. 1 center back in the lineup is a huge boost for us because we know it’s going to be a big test tonight.”
